On September 16th, 2016, MediaTek announced their first LTE smartphone win for the Sprint network in the US with the LG X Power model LS755. This design win on a major US carrier is significant in that it represents...

Two weeks after the US Commerce Department placed trade sanctions on ZTE over allegedly skirting US export controls laws (see US trade restrictions could be disastrous for ZTE’s smartphone business), a 3-month temporary lift of the sanction was put in place after “active” and “constructive” talks with the US government.

With all four major US carriers announcing an end to 2-year contracts and device subsidies, smartphone financing and sales will likely undergo a transformational change which will invariably move the US smartphone distribution model closer to that of the rest of the world and expose the real cost of devices to the end consumer.

In September 2014, the Government of India (GOI) launched the ‘Make-in-India’ program to encourage multinational and domestic companies to manufacture their products in India, with the objective of attracting capital and technological investment in India. Within a year, by August 2015, GOI had received US$17 billion worth of proposals from foreign and homegrown companies for manufacturing electronics in India.

As of January 2016, subscribers will no longer be able to get smartphones on a two year subsidised contract.
New subscribers will be offered AT&T’s Next plan, and will pay instalments on the full price of the smartphone...